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Education:
Keep it public, Keep it free The saying goes, “If you think education is expensive, just try ignorance some time.” For this country to stay great, its education system must remain free and universal. In America, we believe a good education is essential. A well-educated public resists tyranny. Kings and modern dictators have always known this, and feared an enlightened public. In 1635, there was a public school in Boston. In 1647, Massachusetts passed a law providing instruction for every child. This laid the foundation of the common school system of the United States. By 1760, there was provision throughout New England for teaching reading, writing, and elementary mathematics. In 1787, Congress made an ordinance for the government of the Northwest territory (Ohio and more). Among other features, it caused the common school system to spread throughout the new West, and government devoted 1/36th of the public lands to foster education. Is education a right? No. The word “education” doesn’t appear in the Constitution, its amendments or the Declaration of Independence.. But if you believe in the Constitution’s stated purpose “to promote the general welfare,” it’s not hard to make the logical leap that education is an essential part of our general welfare and that it’s in government’s charter to provide it. Besides, no civilized society would ignore the opportunity to educate all its people. Education helps ensure the durability of a country’s government and economy. Is “free” public education free? No, it’s no more free than a “freeway.” Our tax money pays for it. But that’s our long-standing agreement with ourselves. Education is a cost we are willing to bear, because it benefits ourselves, our children, and society. Education isn’t cheap, but it’s well worth the money. Amazing, some people think wasting taxes on a Trident submarine is just fine, but consider themselves ill-used when investing in the education of children. What misplaced priorities! While we pay to protect ourselves from nukes from the non-existent USSR, we carp about the cost of public education! Does public education have flaws? Of course it does, but so do government operations, weapons systems, and corporations. We tolerate, bail out, and occasionally fix problems with these entities, and we can certainly fix education. Our education problems arise largely from our fast-changing society and our slowly-responding system. We expect our schools to be day care centers, drug counselors, pregnancy counselors, and social service centers, and then criticize them for not teaching. For heaven’s sake, how many jobs should a school system take on? It’s delusional to point fingers at teachers and administrators. They didn’t cause our current educational problems; they are caught up in solving them. What is more delusional is to start whining that “you can’t solve a problem by throwing money at it.” You certainly can. People throw plenty of tuition money at Stanford, USC and Harvard, and they get a first-class education. I promise you, if you throw enough money, your children will get an outstanding education. One interesting problem with free, universal, public education is that since everybody “owns” the system, everybody is an expert on fixing it: administrators, teachers, parents, kids, and especially politicians. Personally, I trust the teachers, parents, and kids. And despite public unwillingness to spend, the system still tries all kinds of techniques for improvement, including magnet schools, charter schools, distance learning programs, and home study programs. The growth of the internet will also put an enormous number of “learning products” in front of children and adults. And that’s more or less free. Education is not just for kids. It’s a lifelong process, not only for our personal enrichment, but because we’ll need it to keep our jobs! I’m glad Nevada Union Adult Education and Sierra College have so many valuable courses at fairly affordable prices. For those who think private education is best, you needn’t worry about its demise. Even with a public school system, there will always be private schools available to the wealthy. My concern is glib snakeoil salesmen who propose outsourcing public school systems (for their profit), and those who would use vouchers to underwrite parochial schools and promote a religious agenda with public money. Forget it. Stick with the system you control. Aside from promoting prosperity, we should recognize that free, universal public education is essential to our freedom. Those who would diminish this concept would undermine America’s foundations. Barry Schoenborn is a technical writer, and a ten-year resident of Nevada County. You can write to him at barry@wvswrite.com. The opinions of columnists are not necessarily those of The Union.
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